


give me mercy no more

by SafelyCapricious



Series: things you find in a graveyard [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Concussions, Crushes, F/M, Feral Behavior, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-28 17:30:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20970338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SafelyCapricious/pseuds/SafelyCapricious
Summary: “Oh shi-“ The impact with the rock at her back steals the end of her words, probably saving her from a lecture about language, and her vision tunnels dark for a long moment as she gasps for breath and tries not to move.Pidge is caught by an explosion of some unknown toxin. Keith is caught by the same but reacts just a little bit differently.





	give me mercy no more

**Author's Note:**

> Title generated by the [Hozier random fanfic title generator](http://www.generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=22501) because i have given up the will to live and also it's just fuckin' great!
> 
> Fictober continues. I am officially 29.03% of the way through this. <strike> Oh god, that's not much at all. Someone help me.</strike>

“Oh shi-“ The impact with the rock at her back steals the end of her words, probably saving her from a lecture about language, and her vision tunnels dark for a long moment as she gasps for breath and tries not to move. 

There’s yelling coming from her helmet, but it takes a long moment for her to make any sense of the words that are being yelled. The back of her head is cold-hot and with a groan she reaches up to touch it — a painful twinge stops her movement and she lets her hand fall back to her side. It’s not like she could actually touch it to ascertain the damage, she realizes, as the voices filter through, she’s still wearing her helmet. 

That seems like something she shouldn’t be forgetting. That’s probably a bad sign.

“Hunk! Pidge! Keith! Anyone! Is anyone there — are you okay?” Lance’s voice cracks — he’s been saying much the same since her hearing started to come back, Shiro and Allura silent after an initial yell of alarm, but this is the first time there’s a voice responding. 

Hunk sounds out of breath, but not in pain, as he chimes in, “I’m here — I’m okay — it was some sort of gas bomb — I can’t see the others and my suit’s sensors are out —“

“I’m here,” Pidge finally manages to say. She thinks there’s blood at the back of her head and her hearing keeps going in and out in kind of an alarming way and she’s not entirely sure she can stand up. But she’s not going to tell them that until she’s tried and failed. Maybe twice. 

For now she wants to try to figure out what the gas is — the sensors on her suit aren’t out, and she can see that it’s filtering out the gas, whatever it might be, but she doesn’t want to rely on that lasting — and she’s worried about the other’s suits. 

“Guys,” she says, trying to scan for life forms, her screen blinks out and back in and out again, before finally steadying and she starts to glance across the room, “no one should come in here until we know what this gas-“ the screen lights up bright enough that she squeaks, and she almost can’t see the purple suit beyond it, sharp pain in her shoulder keeps her from pulling her bayard up — and keeps Keith from getting zapped in the process as he crouches low over her. 

“Pidge!” Lance is always so loud, and the sound makes her wince as it reverberates through her aching head and makes the world skew again for a moment. 

“S’okay,” she says, her other hand coming up to clutch her shoulder, “Keith found me. But he…doesn’t seem to have his helmet and…” the other details start to filter in and yeah, she definitely is not okay. “I think I might have a concussion,” she says, because she can’t quite figure out what looks wrong about Keith with her vision going in and out of focus and he hasn’t said anything and — he lunges and she jerks back and her helmet hits the wall again but he’s just picking her up but there’s sharper pain and her vision tunnels again and then goes out as she falls limp. 

***

Everything hurts and Pidge regrets regaining consciousness. She keeps her eyes shut for a long moment before finally forcing them open and — she sits up far too quickly, because she’s most definitely not in the Castle of Lions. 

It’s dim and she can’t make out much, but she’s on the ground in a cavern that looks like it’s made from the same rock as where they were before — but it’s definitely not the same chamber, there was Galra equipment climbing the walls there, and this is empty and rough hewn and — and she’s not wearing her helmet anymore. 

She reaches up to the back of her head, now that she can, and there’s a wrap there and that’s why her bangs are so itchy against her forehead and there’s a dull ache behind her fingers and there’s some tacky blood in her hair. 

The hairs on her arm stand up and she, suddenly, is sure she’s being watched. She freezes, and first tries to look to the side but she can’t see and then she slowly, painfully, turns her head — and promptly deflates. 

Keith is crouched five feet from her, staring at her. And yes, of course, she remembers him finding her and carrying her — he was there when she said she had a concussion, wasn’t he? He must’ve decided to get her somewhere safe and tucked away while he took care of the rest of things and he probably just came back to check on her. That also explains the head wrap, and he probably took her helmet so he could communicate. 

“You scared me Keith, geez! I know you’re taking this spy thing seriously,” she forces a smile and bites back her comment about how good he looks in the uniform. It’s more skintight than the paladin armor and she’s sure she’s not the only one who’s noticed, “but make some noise next time!” 

He had to take her helmet, she realizes, as he continues to just stare at her where he’s crouched, legs splayed wide, hands braced against the ground between his legs, head tilted slightly to the left — he had to take her helmet because his had cracked and…

“Oh shit,” she says, meeting his eyes. There’s none of the intelligence or determination she’s used to seeing in them, instead the iris has started to spread into the whites of his eyes and he’s looking less pale and pallid than usual and more, well purple and…Oh she really hopes he’s still in there. Mind control would be bad, especially if a Druid is in charge.

“Um,” she tries, reaching out towards him with one hand because she definitely doesn’t feel up to moving at the moment, “Keith, buddy, you wanna…shake off the, uh, mind control of whatever? Come on, I’m your, uh,” her voice cracks as her words falter and die in her dry throat. What are they? What is she to him? Ex-teammates sounds bad, like something must have gone wrong. Past arms of Voltron sounds worse, somehow. And…and…friend…well. Are they friends? Do they have to have a discussion to be friends? How does being friends even work? They are any of the team really friends or were they just thrown into it by circumstances and — that’s definitely a question to ask Hunk. Hunk will know and he’ll be nice if none of them are, maybe he’ll give her cookies or something for it.She tries to gather some liquid in her mouth and decides to change statements. “Pidge, I’m Pidge, and you don’t wanna hurt me?” 

His head tilts to the right for a moment and then he’s moving. 

She closes her eyes and tries to brace for impact — her bayard materializes in her clenched fist as she does but it’s Keith and she’d hurt him if she thought it would help but she can barely move her arm and he’s probably being mind controlled and oh he’s going to feel awful when this is done and —

He wraps himself around her and it hurts — but his arms around her are gentle. The thump of his heart where it’s beating against the side of her head, now, even through the armor he’s still mostly wearing, is very calm, especially in comparison to the frantic beating of her own heart. 

“Mine,” he says, voice a rough growl. 

She’s pretty sure she’s having an out of body experience, stuttering out, “Uh-um,” as he begins to card his fingers, which are maybe claws but she might be hallucinating that, through her hair.

This might be a nice time to pass out, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be her luck. 

It takes a few minutes for her to realize what, exactly, is happening. She is willing to blame her probable concussion on that, though given how bizarre it all is she might be putting too much credit on her head injury. 

When she’d been eight she’d slept over at a friend’s house. Said friend had a cat that Pidge had desperately wanted to play with and pet -- the cat had not obliged. But when Pidge had woken up in the middle of the night, dying of overheating in her sleeping bag, it had been to find the cat curled around the top of her head and licking her hair. 

Which is, more or less, what Keith is doing. 

She fights back a hysterical giggle, imagining Keith looking more like Mr. Flutternutter the obese orange cat from so long ago and less like, well, himself. 

His chest rumbles against her and he starts to make whuffing noises, and she looses it. Her head aches and she’s scared and laughing makes everything hurt worse and then she’s crying and -- 

He licks a tear from her cheek and nuzzles close and she stops laugh-crying on a gasp. 

“Safe.” He says, voice still a rough growl, as he rubs his cheek against hers. His chest is still rumbling against hers and it makes her joints feel loose. 

It does make her feel safe.

Which. Well. Clearly the gas did _something_ to him, but she’s starting to think the goal wasn’t mind control. Or if it was mind control it didn’t get completed, or maybe Keith, being part human too, is immune to that part but still got —

A snarl reverberated through their little cave, and Pidge can just make out another crouched form — another Galra — at the entrance before Keith tears himself way from her and she topples back. She catches herself on an arm that protests the abuse loudly, and the impact jars her entire body and brings tears to her eyes so she misses the start of the fight. 

It’s over abruptly, with a horrifying crack as Keith twists the neck of the Galra and then _howls, _and then he’s got her in his grip again and they’re going deeper into the cave. 

Yeah, okay, something is definitely wrong with Keith and she’s got no idea how to fix it.

And no idea where her helmet is so she can contact the rest of the team in the hopes that maybe one of them can fix it. 

Quiznak. 

He’s being fairly gentle with her though, which is something — even if it still hurts because well, everything about her existence hurts currently. But still, he snapped that guys neck and probably could’ve snapped hers before she came too and he didn’t so — 

She’s going to chose to believe that that means something. 

They’ve left their source of light behind, which is unfortunate for her, because she definitely can’t see. It’s nice to know he can though, since he hasn’t run them into a wall or something — and now she’s wondering if he’s always had better night vision and maybe just didn’t realize how bad everyone else’s was or if it’s a part of the whatever that’s made him someone who can only talk in monosyllables and who licks peoples heads. 

It’s good she’s not afraid of the dark. 

Or claustrophobic. 

This would really suck if she was claustrophobic. 

There’s another snarl from Keith — and then another snarl from someone else and she’s can’t see what’s happening and — pain and darkness, her old friends, reach out and drag her down. 

***

“Ugh,” she’s only half conscious and the sound is drug out of her without permission, but it encapsulates how she’s feeling so well that she repeats it, “ugh,” before trying to open her eyes. 

There’s light again, which is something. 

And Keith is staring down at her from about an inch away, which is also something. 

She’s probably glad she hurts so much that she doesn’t jerk because her body isn’t even capable of that kind of action right now. “Quiznak,” she says, to stop herself from using harsher language. She’s not sure why she’s trying not to use harsher language, but it seems like the sort of thing one of the Paladin’s of Voltron shouldn’t do — swear all the time, that is. 

“We are going to have a real long conversation about personal space, buddy, once you’re back to, you know, yourself.” She tries to reach up and push him away, but can only really manage to touch him without much force and then he’s holding her hand and huh. So she didn’t hallucinate the claws earlier. Those are definitely claws. 

“I mean,” she says because he’s not even making any noises like earlier and it’s making her nervous, “there are definitely circumstances where I wouldn’t mind you, you know, all up in this — but you all feral or whatever and me concussed is not really one of them, ya’know?”

He leans forward to nuzzle against her cheek, and he’s purring again and — yup, he’s definitely holding her and she’s definitely cradled in his lap. 

“It is probably good it’s me you found,” she says, as she stares up at the ceiling as he huffs in her ear and rubs his cheek against hers, “I don’t think you could carry any of the others quite as easily. I’m the only one shorter than you, I hope you realize.” 

“S’good, s’you,” he says and she blinks.

“Oh hey,” she pats his chest with the hand that’s still there, “good job. That was almost a sentence.” 

“Mine,” he says again, and licks her cheek. 

She stares at the ceiling for another long moment then decides that she’s probably allowed to swear sometimes, just so long as she doesn’t do it _all_ the time, and she lets herself have one succinct, “Fuck.” 

He continues to purr. 

***

She’s has no concept of the passage of time, and she’d like to blame it on the fact that they’re in a cave somewhere and there’s no sunlight, but she’s pretty sure her concussion does not have an inconsiderable amount to do with her issues. 

She’s drifted off a few times, to be fair, but probably for never more than an hour before Keith’s grooming — and she just doesn’t know what else to call it, so she’s going with that — of her wakes her up again. So yay for him keeping her from dying in her sleep from a concussion, probably. 

Pidge realizes she’s not entirely sure why you aren’t supposed to let someone with a concussion sleep for an extended period of time, and she hopes that it’s the being awake that’s good and not like there’s supposed to be something else going on, medically. 

Because there’s nothing else going on medically or rationally or really anything but whatever the adverb version of feline is. 

Galra are, she’s decided over the past however long, big purple cats. 

She is never going to tell any of anyone this, unless she has a convenient concussion to blame it on. 

The tracker on her suit was probably damaged in all the hubub, she’s realized, and she’s working on coming to grips with the fact that it’s possible without her there to fix the receiver, no one is readily coming. 

Keith shifts so he can nuzzle more at the other side of her face, and she allows it because otherwise he just sulks and growls and it’s not worth it. 

Pidge sighs and lets herself be moved and nuzzled and — look, she’s not going to say she’s enjoying it, but it’s definitely not the worst thing that’s ever happened to her. Though she’d probably like it more if Keith was, well, more himself and less semi-feral. 

She pats his hair, because he’s moved to the side of her where her arm has a little more mobility. “You know, I’m going to have such _weird_ dreams about this later — like it’s really not sexy right now, but I’m pretty sure my subconscious is gonna find a way. Which is unfortunate, because then we will never be able to speak again. I mean, assuming you manage to get words back at some point.” Her voice wavers at the end and she takes a deep breath to fight off the urge to give into the fear. 

***

There’s a ringing in his ears that takes a moment to clear, and he has to blink a haze out of his eyes and — he’s definitely not anywhere he recognizes. 

He’s also holding…Pidge? 

He pulls back so he can see more clearly and her fingers uncurl from his hair — and he’s definitely not noticing how nice that felt. “Pidge?” he asks, because she’s bound to explain what is going on. 

She just sighs and pats his chest, “Yup, that’s me.” 

He frowns and huffs out a breath. “Where are we? What’s going on?” And then she’s jerking in his arms and staring up at him with wide eyes and — she’s got a bandage around her head, he realizes, and there’s definitely blood dried in her hair and —“What happened to you?” he asks and reaches out to touch the bandage. 

Except she’s wrapping her arms around him and clinging. “That was a sentence! That was three sentences! Like sensible sentences! Oh Quiznak I could _kiss _you!” 

His cheeks burn and he averts his gaze. Except she’s crying now and — fuck. “Hey, it’s okay, just…uh, tell me what’s going on and we’ll get out of this, okay?” 

She nods against his chest, sniffles, and pulls herself together. “Okay.” 

“Great,” he says, and smiles at her — and her cheeks are a little flushed, she’s probably not doing well from her wounds and he definitely needs to get her back to the Green Lion or the Castle or something as soon as possible. 

“Great,” she echos then coughs. “So you don’t, uh, remember anything?” 

He shrugs and stands up, careful to keep her in his grip because she’s probably pretty injured if she was letting him hold her like this in the first place. “There was an explosion, and some smoke? After that it’s all a blur.” 

“Super cool,” she says in a flat voice as he walks them towards what he thinks is the exit of the cave system. The rest of them are probably looking for her, if not him, and will find them soon. 

And until then he’ll make sure she’s safe. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you've got questions or want to know why I am the way I am you can find me over [on tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/capriciouswrites). 
> 
> This is still probably not edited enough, nothing is this month, so we should just accept it!
> 
> Also I have to go to a board meeting in like...twenty minutes, so it's not gonna get better.
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to read, let me know what you thought and I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
